It’s that time of year again, when it’s your chance to get out there and do your job as a resident and place your vote for the school budget. Yes, you could make a difference, and play a critical part in determining how and where the money gets spent in the school district. Sadly enough, if you believe that, I have some bridges out back I can sell you. Because voting on the school budget is akin to voting to watch a Mets game on the Yankees’ YES network. Because they only show Yankee games. Oh sure, they’ll play the Mets sometime during the season, but it’s still a Yankees channel 24-7, and you can’t really claim victory when the Mets show up. It’s the Yankees, period, and nothing you can do will change it.

So goes the budget vote, which happens tomorrow, and you can get out there and vote, but my guess is most people will see the inconvenience of getting rained on and decide to stay home and watch the weather report on the news instead, and that ironic act will make more sense than voting. You see, even if the budget gets voted down, the alternative budget kicks in, a budget which is slightly over $100k less. You can check the quick facts here, but you’d really be better off spending your time talking about Jorge Posada, and whether or not he was acting like a 3 year old the other night, or if the media blew the whole thing out of proportion, but I really don’t care because I’m a Mets fan.

Yet that’s exactly what I’m talking about – everyone talks about the Yankees, wears the clothing, buys the license plate frames, goes crazy with the discretionary spending, it’s like the Yankees and their goods are being jammed down your throat and there’s nothing you can do about it. So goes the school budget. Oh sure, they send out flyers, encouraging you to be part of the process, but that’s like a zoo keeper telling you to come down so you can feed the lions, but you can’t really, you can’t get past the bars of the cage, you have to stand where everyone else does, and watch while the keeper feeds the lions like he or she always does at the same time every day. Well why did you go down to the zoo? And that’s how you’ll feel at a budget meeting.

So when you feel the pull tomorrow to get in the car and head over to the school to vote, think about those lions before you turn the ignition key. Or stay home. Or do whatever. Because it’s a done deal, the budget, it always is, it probably always will be, and the votes are just ironic statistics, so people can point and say, look, see, people do vote, and it was close, there were a handful who actually took the time to pull the lever.

And by all means try to argue the opposite, try to convince me otherwise, that the budget isn’t just an annual 3 to 5 million dollar annual hike, with a dozen or so new buses tossed in, and that it’s all about the kids and why are you complaining so much?

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moved to Pittsford as a teenager and attended Pittsford-Mendon High School. Her greatest passion is as a lover of and advocate for the arts and music. Donna attended Rhode Island School of Design and earned an MFA from R.I.T. She’s a free-lance art director, advertising photographer and copywriter. Her love of narrative and film has led her to direct and produce short films.

Donna developed her awareness of and concern for environmental issues after being
exposed to the chemicals in artist materials in art schools in the US and Canada which
made her ill for a time. Healthy today, she finds pleasure in nature, writing, and music.
She enjoys Pittsford for its picturesque locations, wildlife, and community involvement.

was born in Rochester, lived here for a while until his dad was transferred to Connecticut ("Thanks, Xerox."). Then a few years later they came back to Fairport ("Thanks again, Xerox."), but Bill went to Pittsford schools. He moved over to Pittsford in 1979. He worked a bunch of jobs, played in bands, went back to MCC and then U of R for a Bachelor's degree in the early 90's. Shortly after that, he moved to NYC with his wife, Laura, where he worked at Ogilvy & Mather and Christie's doing tech support. They moved out to Northern Virginia during the Internet boom, hoping to get rich quick, but missed that boat. They moved back to Pittsford in 2001, along with two boys. Bill still plays guitar with the Chinchillas, the Squeaky Chair Jazz band, and the Steve Greene Trio occasionally.

"Though all communities and areas get a certain reputation (deserved or not), there is a good quality of life here, and the bulk of the people I have met here and places I have been to reflect that," Bill says. "My reason for wanting to blog about the town is at least twofold -- to vent my views and continue with writing, but also to force myself to engage in the environment in which I live. Too many people complain there is nothing to do or see, but they never actually get out and look. I don't want to be like that."